Presented June 25-July 15, the annual conference is run under the artistic leadership of Paulette Haupt. The musicals are developed with professional actors, directors, and music directors and culminate in performances open to the public.

Here's a look at the 2011 works:

Unknown Soldier
Book by Daniel Goldstein
Lyrics by Michael Friedman, Daniel Goldstein
Music by Michael Friedman
(Presented June 25, 26, 29 and July 1)
"In the romantic Unknown Soldier, a timeless search for lost love crosses two generations: Lucie Rabinowitz searches for the truth hidden in her grandmother Lucy's past while 80 year earlier Lucy searches for the love she thought stolen by the horrors of The Great War. The searches lead both women to the same lost young man, a fragile unknown soldier. This intimate musical examines the past and our memory, what we choose to forget and what we can't help remembering."

Son Of A Gun
Book by Chris Cragin and Don Chaffer
Lyrics and music by Don Chaffer
(Presented July 2, 3, 6, 8)
"Danderhauler Agamemnon Khrusty finally admits to himself and his girlfriend, Lucy that he is going to quit the family band. The confession proves untimely when the next day their father and band leader is diagnosed with aggressive tongue cancer, leaving Dan the responsibility of carrying on the family legacy. Packed with dueling cowboys, flaming vans, seduction, and one angelic host, Son of a Gun is a darkly comic bluegrass rock musical that tells the tale of this wildly eccentric Appalachian family."

Suprema
Book and lyrics by Jordan Harrison
Lyrics and music by Daniel Zaitchik
(Presented July 9, 10, 13, 15)
"What if you could hear the difference between a truth and a lie? What would it do to your home life? Suprema is a strange-but-true three-way love story about the creator of both Wonder Woman and the lie-detector test, and the two real women who inspired him." The Shadow Sparrow
Book by Anton Dudley
Lyrics by Charlie Sohne
Music by Keith Gordon
(Presented July 7, 10, 14) 
"A woman in search of fame; a man in search of the mother he never knew; among the graves of Paris' famed Pére LaChaise Cemetery, each will discover their destiny. The Shadow Sparrow is a cabaret musical that reveals that sometimes those things we chase beyond ourselves may actually be found within."

Single tickets to the Music Theatre Conference performances go on sale to the general public June 8. Member tickets begin sale May 16. Phone (860) 443-1238 or visit www.theoneill.org.

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center was founded in 1964 and is based in Waterford, CT. Programs at the Center include the Puppetry Conference, Playwrights Conference, Critics Institute, Music Theater Conference and the National Theater Institute. The Monte Cristo Cottage, O'Neill's childhood home, is also owned and operated by the group.